CW has scheduled its premieres. I just don't plan to watch most of it.9-25 9pm Reaper (His parents sold his soul to the devil, and now he's a bounty hunter for escaped souls - or something like that. Kevin Smith directed the pilot. I'll at least watch the pilot to see if it is as funny as it should be.)10-4 9pm SupernaturalThe rest of their lineup, if you care, is athttp://www.thefutoncritic.com/news.aspx?id=20070720cw01

CBS highlights from the Press Tour:* There'll be more clues about the mother on HIMYM.* Little Jake will enter junior high on Two and a Half Men. (Duh!)* On Ghost Whisperer, we'll learn Jim and Melinda didn't choose Grandview, Grandview chose Jim and Melinda.* CSI/Without a Trace crossover coming with William Peterson and Anthony La Paglia.* Spoiler Scoop! The season premiere of Jericho opens with Stanley and Mimi getting engaged. (That means he survived the finale!)

Strange article: CBS just won a bidding war on a show set in the middle ages called "The Kingdom" described as a medieval "Entourage". I just don't see this working on network television, and I can't imagine why networks would fight over it.http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070718/tv_nm/kingdom_dc_2

As we know, it rained on the Peninsula this morning. Apparently it has also now rained enough in SF to be the first rain on July 18th in recorded history, leaving only 2 days left in July that have no record of rain since the Gold Rush. Fun statistics at:http://www.insidebayarea.com/ci_6402445?source=rss

They've started tracking ratings on commercials and discovered what we already know: people with DVRs will rewind to watch movie trailers. It is somewhat amusing though that they discovered some ads have a higher rating (because of multiple viewings) than the shows they are in.http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070717/tv_nm/tivo_dc_1

John Barrowman says we get to find out more about Captain Jack in 2nd season Torchwood and he talks about his reaction (and David Tennant's) to the huge revelation (no spoiler in the article) at the end of season 3 Doctor Who. I hope they expand on -spoiler- in Torchwood next year.http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=1&id=42439

Rotten Tomatoes has released its best and worst reviewed movies for the first 6 months of the year. Ratatouille is the best (I really need to see that sometime soon). Is it sad that I only want to see about 2 of the top 10 and still want to see one of the 10 worst?http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070717/film_nm/tomatoes_dc_1

Coincidence soon to become marketing: the weekend Stardust opens in theaters is the weekend of the Perseids meteor shower, so there is a good chance you can walk out of the theater after watching someone on a quest to get a fallen star and actually see a falling star yourself. (Found among other notes on Neil Gaiman's blog this week.)http://www.neilgaiman.com/journal/

Apparently there are rumors that Russel T. Davies might be leaving Doctor Who (he's the main writer/showrunning producer). Steven Moffat (writer of about 4 Who episodes & all of Coupling) comments that Doctor Who will continue even if it changes hands (but he didn't answer if he would take it over).http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=1&id=42470

The BBC is doing a spin-off of Life on Mars called Ashes to Ashes that will have another modern day cop thrown back to the past to deal with DCI Hunt, but this time the year is 1981 and the main character is a woman. I wonder if 8 years will have changed Hunt at all?http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=1&id=42430

Rumors are that Pixar is planning a sequel to Cars for release in 2011. The article also mentions the 2009 movie is Toy Story 3 and John Carter of Mars will come in 2012. The article doesn't mention what is planned for 2008 or 2010, but I was curious and went looking. 2008 will be "Wall-E" about a 700 year old robot looking for a home in space (from the writer of Finding Nemo, Monsters Inc, and both Toy Stories).http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=7&id=42420http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0910970/

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Fox has announced premier dates for their Fall shows:9-19 Back to You (new Kelsey Grammer comedy - this may be worth a pilot, I'm not sure)9-19 Bones9-25 New Amsterdam (immortal cop - worth a pilot) - LATER MOVED TO MIDSEASON9-25 House

MGM is planning a complete box set for Stargate SG-1 with 4 bonus disks not included in the individual season sets. I hate it when they do that when we already have the individual seasons, but maybe they will do like MASH and make the bonus stuff available separately for previous buyers. (Angel is also getting a complete box set, but no word on extra features.)http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=7626

Apparently _Solstice_ by Patricia McKillip is a sequel of sorts to _Winter Rose_ (which I must not have read, because I thought Solstice was completely different from all of her other books). Now I need to read Winter Rose and see if I get the same lyrical urban fantasy in a small town feel from it.http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=5&id=42351

Friday, July 6, 2007

CNet has listed the top SciFi inspirations for current hi tech. Sounds like a good way to start an argument. What do you think of their choices? I'll list them, but check out the link for their comments (aka defenses).1. Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash2. Philip K Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep3. Philip K Dick, Minority Report4. William Gibson, Neuromancer5. Bruce Sterling, Distraction6. Robert Heinlein, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress7. Arthur C Clarke, Wireless World letter to the editor8. Isaac Asimov, I, Robot9. Star Trek10. Karel Capek's 1921 play R.U.R.http://news.com.com/2300-1008_3-6195195-1.html?tag=ne.gall.pg

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

Judges have leaked the 10 finalists for Emmys in the Drama and Comedy categories (they vote on these 10 to determine the final 5 voted on by the full academy). Heroes, Grey's Anatomy, House and Lost have made the cut for dramas (nothing else we watch did). Scrubs and My Name is Earl made the cut for comedies (How I Met Your Mother did not).http://goldderby.latimes.com/awards_goldderby/2007/07/report-top-10-e.html

Dianna Agron (who had a minor role in Veronica Mars) and Dominic Keating (who played Lt. Malcolm Reed on ST:Enterprise) will have recurring characters on Heroes next season, as a cheerleader and an Irish mobster, respectively.

Cool article about progress being made in Alzheimer's research because of variant-CJD. Apparently the plaques that cause Alzheimer's only form when there is a lack of healthy prion proteins in the brain. CJD is caused by the prions becoming infected and changing shape, which damages the brain. Now they just need to figure out how to keep the prions present and healthy and they can cure both diseases :)http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6254308.stm